For those who are home, and for those who are on the way. For those who support the historic and just return of the land of Israel to its people, forever loyal to their inheritance, and its restoration.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

...When Ahlam married Nizar Tamimi, also a murderer from the village, a few months after both walked free in the Shalit Deal, Ahed was there to dance and gaze adoringly at the bride. But neither her gaze nor her ideas are the problem. It’s what others do with them.

The opinion piece by Arnold Roth, below, was published today by the Jerusalem Post. It was solicited, we think, to be one of the alternative voices in the context of the wide current news reporting around the release from prison of Ahed Tamimi on July 29, 2018.

More horror than heroism
Arnold Roth

My sweet-natured daughter Malki, brimming with empathy and generosity toward others, always with a smile on her face, was 15 when she was murdered in the Sbarro pizzeria massacre seventeen years ago this week.

The experience of losing her, of trying to rebalance my life and my family’s and of trying to make sense of the reactions of other people has shaped much of what I believe about terrorism.

We know who plotted the Sbarro barbarism. It was not Ahed Tamimi. But when her clan, the Tamimis of Nabi Saleh, get together to celebrate it as we know they do, she is an enthusiastic participant.

In a village where almost everyone is related by blood and (yes, and) marriage, Ahed is a cousin of Ahlam Tamimi in multiple ways. Ahlam now lives free in Jordan. She boasts that she chose the site for the explosion, seeking to kill as many Jewish children as possible, and planted the human bomb. Via social media, public speeches and (for 5 years) her own TV program, she urges others to follow her lead.

When Ahlam married Nizar Tamimi , also a murderer from the village, a few months after both walked free in the Shalit Deal, Ahed was there to dance and gaze adoringly at the bride.

But neither her gaze nor her ideas are the problem. It’s what others do with them.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

...That deliberate repeated framing of the story indicates that the corporation which is committed to providing its audiences with “accurate and impartial news […] of the highest editorial standards” has in this case chosen to abandon impartiality and accuracy – and instead lend its voice and outreach to one-sided promotion of a blatantly political campaign.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
30 July '18..

Early on the morning of July 29th the BBC News website published an article billed “Palestinian viral slap video teen freed” on its main homepage as well as on its ‘World’ and ‘Middle East’ pages. The framing of the story was reinforced using two items of previously published related content offered to audiences under the headings “Was slap terrorism?” and “Spotlight on slap video teen” .

The same messaging was further reinforced in the report’s original headline – “Ahed Tamimi: Israel frees Palestinian viral slap video teen” – which was later amended to read “Ahed Tamimi, Palestinian viral slap video teenager, freed in Israel“.

Clearly the intention was to lead BBC audiences towards the understanding that this story is about a “Palestinian teen” who had been in prison because of a filmed “slap” even before they had read one word of the report. That same framing was evident in the vast majority of the large number of reports on this story produced by the BBC between December 2017 and March 2018 (see ‘related articles’ below).

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Regavim enables residents of Arab and Bedouin communities, who are victims of rampant violation of firearms regulations but are afraid to lodge formal complaints with the Israel Police, to file complaints discreetly and receive legal counsel: Complaints may be submitted through Regavim’s new Hebrew-Arabic “Hot-Shot Hotline” Facebook page, called “Stop the Shooting.”

The problem of illegal guns in the Arab sector hits the news every so often, bringing with it a new wave of discussion, criticism, and the usual hand-wringing (see our coverage from 2016 here). Unfortunately, it usually ends there; no one seems to have found a way to deal with the problem systematically.

The most recent round was brought on by a series of videos that innocent bystanders posted on social media, capturing masked gunmen shooting automatic weapons from vehicles speeding through Beer Sheva’s Ohalim Junction and in residential areas in Segev Shalom and Rahat. The videos went viral, and the entire country was, once again, talking about the problem.

Almost immediately, a resident of Rahat sent an uncensored version of one of the videos to Regavim’s Facebook Messenger inbox. In this version, the license plate numbers of the vehicles involved in the shooting spree were plainly visible, and the frightened citizen who shared the footage asked for Regavim’s help to file an official complaint with the police.

Residents of Israel’s Arab and Bedouin communities live under the shadow of the free-for-all of illegal firearms and random shooting in the streets of their towns, committed by local criminals. Although the innocent, law-abiding residents have been suffering from this nightmarish reality for years, they do not file complaints with the authorities, for fear of reprisals.

The 100-kilogram stone that burst out of the Western Wall this week and came crashing down on a plaza two meters away from a Jewish woman in prayer has raised questions over stability of the entire Temple Mount edifice.

It’s possible, say scientists and archaeologists, that the stone was weakened from its moorings by water seeping through the soil fill behind the wall or by vegetation growing within the wall itself.

But it is also possible that the Jerusalem Wakf Islamic Religious Trust which runs the Mount caused the near-catastrophe. It continues to conduct illegal digging projects and unsupervised underground renovations on the Temple Mount.

“We need to find out what is happening on the other side” of the wall, said Prof. Eilat Mazar this week. While the use of tractors, trucks and heavy machinery is ostensibly forbidden there, “every time they use an industrial tool – even for drilling – it influences the walls,” she said.

Mazar, of the archaeology institutes at the Hebrew University and Shalem College, has published a monumental survey of every single stone that makes up the Western Wall and Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount), and she currently leads digs in the Ophel south of the Mount.

She feels that the massive Herodian-built Temple Mount superstructure is relatively stable overall, but that there are sections that need closer inspection and preservation. This is especially true of the southeastern corner of the wall, located in the Davidson’s Archaeological Park. Mazar has warned for several years that a big bulge is protruding from the stone wall in this section.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) plans a scan of the southern and eastern sections of the Temple Mount walls, but it has not been carried out – because everything related to the Temple Mount is diplomatically sensitive. Just getting agreement on who is responsible for inspecting and fixing stones is complicated.

And yet, the matter is urgent. Can you imagine what the Moslem and global reaction would have been if a 100-kilogram rampart stone had fallen into the Temple Mount and onto a plaza where Moslems gather or pray? Israel would be excoriated by the UN Security Council, unjustifiably of course, for “demolishing Moslem shrines” – and no consideration would be given to the fact that out-of-control Wakf excavations may be to blame.

Sunday, July 29, 2018

...Trapped by allegiance to a thoroughly outdated and discredited system of international law, unwilling to exchange fantasy for realism, the Palestinians have tried everything except for what might actually make them free and prosperous

Dr. Denis MacEoin..
Gatestone Institute..
27 July '18..

Anyone who cares for Israel, who aspires to peace, who has a good understanding of the historical, ethical, political, and legal facts that underpin the right of the Jewish people to a state of which they are the indigenous people, will be familiar with the name of Robert Fisk. But not in a good way.

For decades, Fisk has been one of the most unrelenting of Israel's many haters and one of the most uncritical supporters of the rights of the Palestinians and their unending calls and actions aimed at the total destruction of Israel and the expulsion or massacre of the Jewish people living there.

Fisk is a clever man. He took his PhD in 1983 from Trinity College, Dublin, an ancient and respected university. Although his doctorate was in political science on a topic related to Ireland and Britain, he has worked as the Middle East correspondent for the Times (1976-1988) and, since 1989, for the left-wing daily, The Independent.

Over the years, he has reported on many wars in many countries and has written and co-authored many books about them, all of them about their conflicts.

Given his Jack-of-all trades character, it is not surprising that Fisk does not always get his facts straight, and for this he has often been criticized by people with deeper knowledge...

Dr. Denis MacEoin has studied, lectured on, and written extensively about the Middle East for some forty-six years. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

As groundless as the Israel-apartheid connection is, it is nonetheless a recurring theme at The New York Times.

Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner .com..
27 July '18..

After two negative front-page articles about Israel’s new nation-state law, The New York Times is escalating its offensive by publishing an op-ed piece claiming that the Israeli parliament endorsed “apartheid methods” by approving the law.

The op-ed appears under the headline “Did Israel Just Stop Trying to Be a Democracy?” The usual rule is that when a headline is phrased as a question, the answer is “no,” but in this case the author seems to answer in the affirmative.

“The effort to guarantee equal rights for non-Jews has at times seemed like trying to square a circle. Last week, Israel gave up on even trying,” the Times op-ed says.

The article concludes, “Israel’s policy of promoting Jewish settlements has created de facto apartheid in the occupied territories of the West Bank. The nation-state law now formally endorses the use of similar apartheid methods within Israel’s recognized borders. What was long suspected has finally been made brutally clear: Israel cannot be both a Jewish state and a liberal democracy.”

The article is by Omri Boehm. The Times describes him as both “an Israeli philosopher” and “associate professor of philosophy at the New School for Social Research.”

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

...whether Gaza is run by Hamas or the PA, Israel will continue to be saddled with neighbors who raise their kids to be murderers and arsonists.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
27 July '18..

We’re always being told that there is a significant difference between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Supposedly, the P.A. is “moderate,” while Hamas is “extremist.” But the PA.’s public endorsement this week of the Gaza kite terrorists makes it clear that there is no meaningful difference between it and Hamas at all.

Here is the text of the statement by Palestinian Authority Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud, as published in the official P.A. daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on July 22 and made available by the invaluable Palestinian Media Watch:

“The occupation’s escalation, to which the Gaza Strip—which is under siege—has been witness in recent hours, constitutes part of the occupation government’s policy towards our residents and the heroic members of our people. … The occupation is striving to create equivalence in which there is a parallel between the newest and most lethal fighter jets and a children’s game such as kites used by peaceful protesters as one of the means of protest against the siege and the occupation.”

Let’s take a careful look at the P.A. spokesman’s words, starting with the way he refers to Israel. Notice that he doesn’t say the word “Israel” at all. The Jewish state is “the occupation” or “the occupation government.” Al-Mahmoud is so consumed with hatred of Israel that he can’t even bring himself to utter its name.

Some 25 years after the Oslo accords—25 years after the Palestinian pledged to live in peace and coexistence with Israel—25 years after the media and peace activists insisted that the Palestinians had really changed—they still can’t even say the word “Israel.”

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Friday, July 27, 2018

The role of a shill is to conceal any nefarious intent by the huckster, to protect the sheen of the product. Consistent with this, the newspaper’s highly selective attention to the facts of the Gaza story served to conceal Hamas’s own double message.

Andrea Levin..
JNS.org..
26 July '18..

A shill is the surreptitious partner of a huckster salesman, revving up an audience to believe a sales pitch and buy a product.

Looking back at months of rioting and arson along the Gaza border with Israel—and the distorted rendition of reality by The New York Times of those events—it’s undeniable that the publication has promoted Hamas propaganda, relaying to its millions of readers what the terrorist group wanted them to believe and omitting what Hamas preferred concealed. The product sold? Israel as aggressor, Palestinians as victims.

As of this writing, there’s been, for instance, no human-interest story devoted to what Israelis are suffering as they witness thousands of acres of farms and nature preserves, and extensive wildlife, destroyed in nearly continuous fires set by flaming kites and airborne fire bombs from Gaza.

When Times Bureau Chief David Halbfinger covered the arson story on July 10, he termed the Hamas campaign “ingenious” and the impact for Israel “exasperating.” (In fact, for Israelis, the impact of the destruction can be frightening and devastating.) But the focus was overwhelmingly on criticism of Israel’s countermeasures against Gazans.

As throughout the coverage, the tilt was the same; Hamas violence was discounted, and Israel’s defensive action to stop the aggression was heavily faulted.

What Hamas wanted from the outset when it launched its “Great March of Return” campaign four months ago was stepped-up world pressure on Israel, fueled by stories and images of its people, especially civilians, “protesting” at the border fence, and enduring injury and death at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

What Hamas would not have liked in the news for all to see were the violent methods used by many Gazans and the violent, anti-Semitic railing of its leaders, scholars and imams fanning the riots.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

...What is the lesson to be learned from Lebanese history with respect to the National Law in Israel? As an Israeli Maronite Aramaic Christian, belonging to the minority and enjoying freedom in Israel, I actually understand the importance of this Law. Yes, our forefathers supported, for ideological reasons, the realization of the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel. But my support of the National Law arises as well from the bitter Lebanese experience.

The modern State of Lebanon was established by Maronite Christians, as a shelter for them and other persecuted Christian communities in the Middle East. The goal of the founders of the State of Lebanon, experienced with persecution and genocide, was to protect and cultivate, in their own state, their language, Aramaic, and their unique Phoenician-Aramaic culture. The Muslim population of Lebanon was not a partner to this national vision, and due to differences of opinion, the Maronites were compelled to abandon their national ambitions. With no other choice, they agreed to the establishment of a state of all its citizens that, to their chagrin, joined the Arab League.

Unfortunately, not only did this solution not bring peace and calm, but it created tensions among the major national and ethnic groups within Lebanon until the situation finally deteriorated into bloody war. The Muslims did not at all see themselves as part of an independent Lebanese country and instead they nurtured their dream of uniting with their brothers while cooperating with the Arabs in the surrounding region.

These processes brought about increased extremism in the Muslim Arab population in Lebanon, weakening state institutions and causing many Christians to emigrate from the land of their forefathers in which they had thrived for generations. Furthermore, the religious-national tensions in Lebanon created discord among the Christian communities, themselves, that until the 1950s had comprised the majority of the population and today — after innumerous wars and tragedies – they have become a persecuted minority in their own country: from 80% in the 1930s Christians now make up only 35% of the contemporary Lebanese population.

What is the lesson to be learned from Lebanese history with respect to the National Law in Israel? As an Israeli Maronite Aramaic Christian, belonging to the minority and enjoying freedom in Israel, I actually understand the importance of this Law. Yes, our forefathers supported, for ideological reasons, the realization of the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel. But my support of the National Law arises as well from the bitter Lebanese experience: I believe that Jewish Nationalism declared by Israeli law in fact guarantees that she will continue to be a democracy, and it also promises me that I will remain secure as a member of a religious minority.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

...As we see, Paul Adams managed to get through his entire report without mentioning the words Hamas and terrorism even once. Obviously such blatantly context-free reporting – along with Mishal Husain’s inaccurate claims -not only contributes nothing at all to the BBC’s public purpose of helping its audiences “engage fully with issues” but actively hinders that process.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
26 July '18..

Many thanks to all those who wrote in to alert us to an item aired in the July 25th edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Today‘. That report by Paul Adams – currently a BBC diplomatic correspondent and formerly twice based in Jerusalem – was introduced by presenter Mishal Husain with multiple inaccuracies.

Husain: “Israel has partially reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing point into the Gaza Strip allowing fuel to enter the territory for the first time in two weeks. The crossing was closed earlier this month after incendiary kites were flown across the border setting fire to agricultural land inside Israel.”

Firstly, the Kerem Shalom crossing was not “closed” – and therefore also not “reopened”. As the BBC News website reported on July 17th, restrictions were placed on the types of goods allowed through:

“No fuel will enter through Kerem Shalom until Sunday, but food and medicine deliveries will still be permitted.” [emphasis added]

The restriction on fuel and gas imports was lifted at noon on July 24th after having been in force since July 17th: in other words for seven and a half days. Husain’s claim that fuel had entered the territory “for the first time in two weeks” is hence inaccurate. Listeners were not told that the restrictions were introduced not only after “incendiary kites were flown across the border” by parties Husain refrains from identifying but also after terror factions in the Gaza Strip had launched over 200 rockets and mortars at Israeli civilians two days beforehand.

Husain continued with an equally context-free portrayal of the violent rioting – pre-planned, financed and facilitated by Gaza terror factions – that has been taking place since the end of March:

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

When all is said and done, demanding that one entity treat an enemy entity – with which it is fighting – in precisely the same manner it treats its friends isn't just patently irrational it is also patently immoral.

One of the most prevalent and unfounded falsehoods around is that Israeli self-defense in the face of Arab hostility – which targets Jews solely because they are Jews – is racist in nature. This accusation stems from the enforcement measures required for this self-defense, which are implemented differently (and therefore, according to the claim, are discriminatory) toward Palestinians Arabs compared to Jewish Israelis.

On the fundamental level, claiming that collective preventive measures by one particular side against the collective efforts of another side to harm it or its allies are tainted with unacceptable group hatred is a baseless argument – conceptually, morally and practically. On the Israeli-Palestinian level, this argument is baseless tenfold.

When all is said and done, demanding that one entity treat an enemy entity – with which it is fighting – in precisely the same manner it treats its friends isn't just patently irrational it is also patently immoral. Indeed, intrinsically it means erasing, or at the very least eroding the right to self-defense, the right to protect the security of the entity itself as a group, and to protect the security of the group's members.

To the best of my knowledge, the democratic doctrine does not negate the possibility of hostility toward a democratic state, even when racist undertones do not even exist. Likewise, this hostility can certainly stem from the entity whose ethnic identity differs from that of the majority of the citizens in the democracy. How, therefore, can it be claimed that the moral conduct of a democracy is flawed when it identifies an enemy as an enemy and treats it as such?

When the questions are presented in this manner, the answers seem obvious and simple, almost self-evident. Unfortunately, however, this is not the case when it comes to Israel – particularly as it pertains to the conflict with the Palestinians.

Two pieces, both thoughtful reads, addressing the seemingly endless arson, rocket and shooting attacks coming from Hamas controlled Gaza, with no relief in sight being suggested by either the political or military sectors. On the other hand, if Hamas's Iron Dome should fail and rockets one time do get through to a crowded parking lot or schoolyard, it's "Game On" and all that comes in its tow.

#1 A Gaza problem without a solution - by Jonathan Tobin

Jonathan Tobin
JNS.org
25 July '18

U.S. President Donald Trump’s belief in his negotiating skills was so great that at one point, he claimed that achieving peace in the Middle East wouldn’t “be as difficult as people have thought.” It was with that same sense of optimism that Jared Kushner—Trump’s son-in-law, senior adviser and White House official tasked with overseeing the peace process—approached the problem.

Kushner has been rightly criticized for being an amateur without qualifications for his job. But after more than a year of preliminary discussions, he may now have a more realistic understanding of the situation.

Though Kushner may have helped draw up a new U.S. peace proposal, the Palestinians have already announced that it will be dead on arrival. Thinking only of protecting his legacy as Yasser Arafat’s heir, aging Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas won’t do anything to end the century-old war on Zionism.

Yet Kushner also had a “Plan B,” which would involve a massive U.S. investment in improving conditions in Gaza so as to both lessen the suffering of the people trapped under Hamas rule there and to ensure that another round of fighting with Israel won’t break out.

But as an op-ed in The Washington Post published last week under the byline of Kushner, U.S. special negotiator Jason Greenblatt and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman made clear, the Trump foreign-policy team seems to understand that even their alternative is a non-starter. As long as the terror group is in charge in Gaza, any hopes for peace or economic development there remain blocked.

The Trump administration isn’t the only one that still has a lot to learn about Hamas.

For the last four years, many Israeli security experts claimed that the country’s Gaza dilemma was fixed in 2014.

“Spray the suckers. Carpet bomb the whole damn place,” someone is bound to say in every conversation regarding the relentless terror emanating from Gaza toward Israel. After all, we’ve already been accused of carpet bombing Gaza. So why not actually do so?

I’ll tell you why. It’s too brutal. It’s not like us. The thought of bombing innocent civilians is too horrible to contemplate.

But it’s difficult to say that out loud. It makes you look suspicious, or like you’re rooting for the wrong side. So I stay quiet, or refrain from clicking “like” on Facebook comments suggesting Israel carpet bomb Gaza. I let my non “like” express my lack of approval for these sentiments.

Sometimes, I’ll ask the other party to imagine what would happen to Israel were it to contemplate such a move. The world outcry would be enormous. The response, of course, is that the outcry is already enormous. Furthermore, say the wannabe carpet bombers, public sentiment would blow over in no time, in accordance with the fast-changing news cycle.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

(First Posted 17 July '14) ...It is crucial that the present reality serve to open everyone's eyes to the truth, that it is understood that the Middle East has its own priorities and objectives – quite unlike those of the West – and that in this part of the world the only survivors are those who cannot be defeated. Proper government, a viable economy, health, education and welfare are far less important than the main objective – destroying Israel.

Every organization, like every group, has goals and objectives, and every group organizes its objectives according to its own priorities, with these objectives and their order of importance serving to reflect the group's culture. Different groups have different objectives and different priorities, and it is the interaction between groups that exposes the objectives of each of them as well as their individual priorities and cultures.

Disputes between groups occur when their goals are diametrically opposed.

For example, the Jewish people living in Israel see the Land of Israel as their land and their primary goal is to survive there forever, while the so-called (Pan) Arab Nation has chosen destroying Israel as one of its goals, but not as the chief one. The reason that Israel still survives in the Middle East is that its destruction –for the time being – is not the main thrust of the Arab Nation, which has not united in an attempt to destroy her.

Peace between parties in conflict arrives when one of them, or both, changes its opposing goals or priorities.

When Egypt and Jordan defined themselves as independent from the Arab Nation (supposing there really is a united Arab entity) and its primary goals, and when the rulers of these countries understood that the meta-goal of eliminating Israel is not achievable, they further changed their order of priorities, placing economic issues in higher priority - and making peace with Israel.

Did the change filter down to the general population? – That is a different question, which has no clearcut answer.

Sometimes one group temporarily changes its priorities for a short period due to other concerns. A humanitarian catastrophe such as tidal waves and heavy rains that cause flooding can cause the group to cease its jihad against Israel for a while so as to rescue women and children from homes that have been flooded.

Does that mean that the flooding has erased the jihad from its place at the top of the list of priorities? Most definitely not.

Unemployment and famine can also temporarily change the order of priorities, explaining the desire of Gazans to work in Israel. At the moment, they need to make a living and are willing to come to work in Israel, letting the jihad wait for a more opportune time.

Mistakes happen when one group thinks that the rival group has permanently changed its priorities, when it is actually only pretending to do so, or has done so temporarily. This is the major error of those who pushed for the Oslo process, among them Israelis, Europeans and Americans. Someone bamboozled them into thinking that the artificial new group, self-defined as "Palestinians", had left the Arab Nation and adopted objectives and priorities that differ from those of the Arab Nation.

Because the Israeli Arabs worked in Israel from 1967, some, both in and out of Israel, believed that they had separated themselves from the Arab Nation and erased the destruction of Israel from their culture and objectives.

This is also the reason that the tired souls among us - and in the world - make sure to call them "Palestinians" and not "Arabs" – not only because they want to create a new nation, but in order to allow for a new culture that does not include the meta-objective of the Arab and Islamic Nation, destroying Israel.

The concept of a New Middle East that spawned the Oslo Accords was based on the premise that the Arab Nation changed its priorities, erased destroying Israel from the top of its list of priorities, and has replaced it with welfare, development, education and health. The Palestinians, according to this concept, have changed their priorities, erased the destruction of Israel and replaced it with the state, economy and welfare.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

...Bateman did not clarify to listeners that the places he described as “occupied” – Bethlehem and the Deheishe camp – have been under Palestinian Authority control for well over two decades.

Hadar Sela..
BBC Watch..
25 July '18..

The July 23rd edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Today’ included an item (from 02:51:43 here) concerning an incident which had taken place the previous night. In her introduction, presenter Martha Kearney described the alleged shooting of a Palestinian youth during violent rioting that included the use of IEDs, rocks, petrol bombs and grenades as an “attack”. [emphasis in bold added]

Kearney: “Israeli soldiers have shot dead a Palestinian teenager during a raid in the West Bank. Tom Bateman is our Middle East correspondent and Tom – tell us a bit more about this attack.”Bateman: “Well this was the Deheishe refugee camp. It’s a big refugee camp in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military went in for a raid during the night – I mean these are things that happen frequently. They say they’re often looking for suspects or for weapons manufacturing sites.”

Readers may recall that in May the BBC failed to report the murder of an Israeli soldier during such an operation in another location. Tom Bateman did not clarify to listeners that the places he described as “occupied” – Bethlehem and the Deheishe camp – have been under Palestinian Authority control for well over two decades. He continued:

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

The practical, concrete consequences are minimal. There will be neither more nor fewer Arabic road signs. Nobody will lose their right to vote or serve in the Knesset or as a judge as a result of this law. Nobody will be expelled or imprisoned. No religion will be banned, no newspapers closed. As Eugene Kontorovich said, there is nothing in it that is more aggressively ethnically nationalist than any number of national constitutions, including the constitution of the proposed state of “Palestine,” which states that Palestine is an Arab nation, the national religion is Islam, the source of legislation is shari’a, and the national language is Arabic.

The most controversial part of it declares that “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation,” something that Kontorovich notes is simply a restatement of the commitment to “close [Jewish] settlement on the land” made in the British Mandate. Much of the law is a reprise of ideas that appeared in the Declaration of Independence.

The hysteria is remarkable, but it is not because the law says anything new. Some of the opposition is simply politics, because it was passed by a Likud government whose head is Benjamin Netanyahu. Tzipi Livni declared that the sole purpose of the law was to help Netanyahu in the next election (indeed, it should). The final version that was passed by the Knesset was much weaker in many respects than older versions; but this did not in general defuse the anger it created.

To understand what is going on, you don’t need to look harder at the law; you need to look at its opponents. Their problem is not with the law’s (minimal) practical consequences or because of the possible interpretation of one clause or another. Their problem is with the whole idea.

The law is like a powerful X-ray beam that exposes the presence or absence of Zionist bones in those it shines upon.

Of course the Arab members of the Knesset disliked it enough to tear it up. Their belief, as Avi Dichter, one of the original writers of the law, said, is that this land is their homeland alone. This isn’t surprising. It’s probably true that the Arab MKs are more extreme than most of their constituents, but it’s also true that there is a strong current of nationalism in Israel’s Arab citizens, and this naturally conflicts with Zionism. This conflict isn’t going to go away by pretending that it isn’t there. Either we will give up the idea of a Jewish state, or the Arabs will get used to it, or we’ll fight another war with them over it. There aren’t any other alternatives.

...The Israeli government has given the British government what it wanted. Perhaps now would be a good time for the British government to reciprocate in some way?

Douglas Murray..
Gatestone Institute..
24 July '18..

According to the British Foreign Office, the Golan Heights are 'occupied'. They have been 'occupied' -- according to the logic of the UK Foreign Office -- since 1967, when Israel took the land from the invading forces of Syria. Ever since then, the Israelis have had the benefit of this strategic position and the Syrian regime has not. This fact, half a century on, still strikes the British Foreign Office as regrettable, and a wrong to be righted in due course.

Of course, since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the official position of the UK government has become ever-harder to justify. For example, if the Israeli government were at some point over the last seven years suddenly to have listened to the wisdom of the Foreign Office in London and handed over the strategic prize of the Golan, to whom should it have handed it? Should Israel be persuaded to hand over the territory to the Assad regime in Damascus? It is true that, throughout the course of the Syrian civil war, the one bit of territory to which the Syrian regime has laid claim and which it has not been able to barrel-bomb and otherwise immiserate the people there has been the Golan Heights. Only in the Golan has anybody in this 'Greater Syria' been able to live free from the constant threat of massacre and ethnic, religious or political cleansing.

Other candidates for the territory naturally presented themselves across the same time-frame. The armies of ISIS came right up to the villages on the Syrian side along the borders of the Golan. There, they were able to bring that form of peace-through-barbarism which the world has come to know well. If ISIS had triumphed in the Syrian conflict rather than suffering repeated set-backs, would the UK Foreign Office have handed them the territory by way of reparational justice, or victor's prize? If not them, then perhaps the armies of Iran or Russia could have been the recipients of this feat of restorative diplomacy? Perhaps anyone who wished to lay claim to the Golan could have had it. So long as it was not the Israelis.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

...Other sports bodies have made it clear to Arab nations that if they boycott Israel they lose the privilege of hosting their events. In every case I am aware of, the Arab nations gave in to the demands of the organizations. One must wonder why FIDE so easily violates its own regulations in order to cave to the demands of bigots.

Elder of Ziyon..
23 July '18..

The FIDE/World Chess Federation Handbook says, "FIDE rejects discriminatory treatment for national, political, racial, social or religious reasons or on account of sex."

Yet...we have this:

Schoolgirl Liel Levitan from Haifa is unable to accept an invitation to play in the World Chess Championship because host nation Tunisia will not allow Israelis to compete, it was reported Thursday.This is not the first time Israeli chess players have been denied the opportunity to participate in international tournaments due to their nationality.Israeli athletes often face difficulties when competing in the Middle East or against Middle Eastern countries, due to hostility toward the Jewish state.“Just a few months ago, a World Chess Championship was due to take place in Saudi Arabia,” chess player Lior Aizenberg told Hadashot news. “It was clear to everyone that outstanding Israeli chess players would not be able to participate.”

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Monday, July 23, 2018

That charade went on, year after year. Arafat kept sponsoring terrorism against Israel. The State Department kept certifying that he was fulfilling his obligations in the Oslo accords. Congress and American Jewish leaders kept looking the other way. And the money kept flowing.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
23 July '18..

U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior Mideast advisers are proposing to give Hamas billions of dollars if it will recognize Israel and suspend terrorist attacks. Bad idea. Getting rid of Hamas—not bribing it—is the only hope for peace in Gaza.

In a Washington Post op-ed on July 20, presidential advisers Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, together with U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, noted that despite the international community’s gifts of “billions of dollars” to Gaza in the past 70 years, unemployment is at 49 percent, and 53 percent of Gazans live below the poverty line.

The Trump team’s solution? Give Gaza many billions more in exchange for some paper promises by Hamas. Talk about throwing good money after bad!

If Hamas “acknowledges that the existence of Israel is a permanent reality,” “abides by previous diplomatic agreements” and “renounces violence,” the U.S. officials wrote, then “all manner of new opportunities becomes possible” because “engaged, interested parties with resources” will start pumping in foreign aid. Gaza will “enjoy economic success and integrate into a thriving regional economy—if they let us help.”

In other words, the Trump administration is willing to provide U.S. taxpayers’ money in exchange for Hamas’s promises.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

...The Times online can’t be bothered to include a hyperlink to the actual text of the Nation-State law, or even a sidebar with the brief full text of it, perhaps because if it did readers who think independently might be able to read it for themselves and conclude it is basically a statement of the obvious, not worth getting worked up about.

Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner.com..
22 July '18..

Of the many virtues of the Israeli parliament passing a law declaring Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, not least is the entertainment value of observing the New York Times in what I call full-fledged frothing freakout frenzy mode.

Actually, the front-page, above-the-fold, two-bylines plus a photograph treatment that the Times gave the story has not only entertainment value, but educational value. It’s an opportunity to observe the Times putting all of its worst biased techniques on display to attack Israel. Among those techniques:

1. Adjectives and adverbs. The law’s passage itself is described by the Times as “incendiary,” as if it is the equivalent of the arson kites Hamas is sending over the Gaza border fence. A clause in a draft version in the law is described by the Times not merely as “divisive” but as “highly divisive.” The Times instinct for the superlative is almost Trump-like; the law’s passage is said by the Times to demonstrate “the ascendancy of ultranationalists in Israel’s government.” What is the difference between an “ultranationalist” and a mere nationalist, the Times doesn’t explain.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

...If every country has the right to select its own anthem and vote the anthem into law as is customary to do, then Israel has that same inalienable right. Jews have the right to sing out about our nationalistic pride without that reflecting badly on our democracy. And each and every non-Jewish citizen of this land has the right to decide how to position himself or herself among us.

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
21 July '18..

There are some Israelis – Jews and Arabs alike – who over the years have argued that Hatikva is abhorrent to our non-Jewish citizens and should be changed. It is (bad) enough we are a Jewish country, they seem to imply; no need to add insult to injury by vocally and emotionally proclaiming our eons-long Jewish dream to be free in our own land. Where does that leave the Arabs and other non-Jews? How can we resolve that tension between being a Jewish country (and trying to be proud of that) and still be democratic and not discriminate against our non-Jewish citizens?

Well, too late! It is now fixed in law. Hatikva is our national anthem.

In any case, in a separate article, I discussed the issue: I argued that as sovereigns in our own indigenous homeland, we are free to write our future according to our values. If our values are Jewish supremacist, then that is the way the country will grow, but if our values are moral and inclusive, that means that all our citizens, Jews and non-Jews, will continue to have equal rights to pursue their individual and family goals (but not national goals that would undermine the nation of Israel).

For those who contend that non-Jews cannot stand up and sing Hatikva, let me present you with one Druze man’s feelings about HaTikva:

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work.

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About Me

I visited Hevron in November 2000 after the outbreak of the Rosh Hashanah War to see what could be done to assist in the face of the growing daily attacks on the community. After returning to work for the community in the summer of 2001, a bond and a love was forged that grows to this day. My wife Melody and I merited to be married at Ma'arat HaMachpela and now host visitors from throughout the world every Shabbat as well as during the week. Our goal, "Time to come Home!"